USES FOR ELLIOTT PRISON SUGGESTED

PIKEVILLE - A candidate for Kentucky Supreme Court is recommending
that a newly built prison in Elliott County be turned into a long-term
drug treatment center.

Will T. Scott, a Pikeville lawyer who is challenging incumbent Justice
Janet L. Stumbo of Van Lear, said it would be the best use for the $92
million facility. "Eastern Kentucky has one of the highest per capita
rates of illegal drug use in the nation," he said.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said yesterday that Scott's proposal is "certainly
something we would consider looking at."

House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said he, too, is
willing to consider the idea. "I would not be opposed to a state-run
drug rehabilitation program for drug offenders," Adkins said. "It
would still need to be a state-run, state-operated prison."

The Little Sandy Correctional Complex, a 961-bed prison that was
supposed to open in June, remains empty while state officials consider
its fate. Plans were for the prison to bring at least 280 jobs to the
county. Fletcher, however, maintains the state doesn't need a new prison.

Corrections Commissioner John Rees recommended that the Fletcher
administration privatize the prison. The administration has said the
state could collect rent by leasing the prison to a private company
that would, in turn, lease the beds to hold other states' inmates. Or
the state could offer a management contract, paying a company to run
the prison and hold Kentucky inmates in some of its beds more cheaply
than the Corrections Department could.

Adkins has steadfastly opposed privatizing the prison, saying it would
reduce salaries offered at the facility.